Wagga Base Hospital to be one of 11 priority Pfizer coronavirus vaccine hubs in NSW

NSW Health has confirmed Wagga has been earmarked as one of 11 major hospitals to participate in "phase 1a" of the national rollout.

A spokesman said NSW Health had now been advised priority will be applied to frontline staff including ambulance, critical care ward, and emergency department staff.

"The focus will be those staff most likely to come into contact with COVID-positive patients," he said.

It comes after Albury Wodonga Health, which works closely with the MLHD, confirmed to The Border Mail it would run one of nine regional Victorian Pfizer vaccination hubs in Wodonga.

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The Therapeutic Goods Administration on Monday approved the Pfizer vaccine, which requires specialised cold facilities to store it at minus 70 degrees, making it more of a logistical challenge for rural areas than other vaccines expected to be used in Australia.

General practitioners meanwhile have begun applying to the federal government to register as vaccine administrators for the general population, as part of a staggered rollout that is scheduled to begin in March and is likely to use the AstraZeneca jab.

Earlier this week, Wagga Central Medical and Skin Clinic GP Tracey Purnell said the mass immunisation program would be a logistical challenge for Riverina medical professionals.

"Obviously it's unlike other vaccinations, because the government wants everyone to be vaccinated," she said.

"We'll probably need as many practices as possible to get on board."

Dr Purnell is positive about the rollout in the Murrumbidgee but said residents in smaller towns or those living rurally may need to travel to be vaccinated.

"My understanding is [the government] will be encouraging everyone's local service to provide it," she said.

"I imagine that in every centre where there's a doctor's clinic there should be a COVID-19 clinic running, otherwise people will have to travel into a large centres like Wagga or Griffith."

National Rural Health Alliance chief executive officer Gabrielle O'Kane has called on state and federal governments to prioritise rural Australians for the vaccine, which she said was an issue of equity.

"Vulnerable people living in rural areas find it difficult to travel. It is going to be harder to reach those people so we need to be conscious of those hard to reach groups," she said.

"We've got a higher percentage of the population [in regional Australia] that have poorer health outcomes. It means that you may have very sick people who aren't able to travel and we want the vaccine to go to them."

Dr O'Kane said regional residents such as those in the Murrumbidgee should be viewed as a "high risk group" who would rely on a "serious surge in workforce" to administer their vaccines.

"It will be helping out with staff numbers but you've also got to move those staff to where they're going to be needed," she said.

MLHD respiratory protection program coordinator Frank Evola said earlier this month that local health authorities were "very well positioned to be able to deliver even a new vaccine like this", with the assistance of nurse immunisers.

Federal regional health minister Mark Coulton said an additional workforce had been arranged to support vaccine delivery.

"The workforce will help support and supplement existing services and assist in outreach in areas such as aged care, remote and Indigenous communities working with existing providers," he said.

Mr Coulton said general practices would be essential in what he called "one of the greatest logistical exercises, public health or otherwise, in Australian history".

He said he remained in contact with "key rural health stakeholders" to monitor the pandemic response in the regions.